Obama’s 2011 SOTU: The Bigger Picture

I had a blast watching the State of the Union address, but that’s only because I spent most of it dancing around my apartment to the tune of “Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.”

The speech was no different from nearly every other oratorical endeavor by our Campaigner-in-Chief. It was a bundle of contradictions – contradictions between his rhetoric and his policies, between his far-left vision for America and his desire to toss a centrist bone to moderates here and there.

He talked job creation after signing a job-crippling health care bill into law and twiddling his thumbs while the EPA revoked a coal mining permit in West Virginia. He talked education after choosing not to protect The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. He talked deficit reduction while advocating for more “investment” that would further bankrupt our nation. He praised the American dream while asserting that “we should ask millionaires to give up their tax break.” He stressed a commitment to border security and enforcing our laws while the Justice Department sues Arizona for enforcing federal immigration laws. He touted his review of regulations after signing a health care bill that would create nearly 160 boards and bureaucracies.

He stated that “nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit,” but wasn’t honest about the flaws in the CBO’s initial cost calculations of Obamacare that were based on the Democrats’ crafty accounting, which double-counted Medicare savings and didn’t include necessary government spending to implement the law. Not to mention the fact that the law requires ten years of tax hikes and Medicare cuts to afford six years of spending. Obama even promised to refuse to sign any bill with earmarks.

He made similar 2008 campaign pledges to slash earmarks, then signed legislation in 2009 saturated with around 8,000 earmarks.

It may appear as though President Obama is confused. He is not. And we can’t afford to be, either.

Barack Obama is not a centrist by any stretch of the imagination. However, he is about to do his best – as he did during the 2008 campaign – to convince us that he is on a centrist path. All the while, his big-government, class-warfare undertones will be perfectly placed to let his far-left base know that they can count on him. As we approach 2012, it is the job of conservatives to remind Americans to judge our President by his policies, not his words. His record – not his rhetoric – must be front and center. To those on the Right who consistently praise his oratorical skills, I remind them that that’s how we got into this mess in the first place. P.S. – Good speeches don’t include a web of inconsistencies, at least not in my book.

President Obama shouldn’t be a difficult man to beat in 2012. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be. With the vast majority of the mainstream media willing to contort, ignore, and elevate whatever they can to suit a pro-Obama message, and some in the GOP quick to pat him on the back for his every centrist remark – be it wrapped in a far-left policy contradiction or not – conservatives will need to stand strong.

Ronald Reagan once reminded us that “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” So let’s get to work.